Natasha Lomas
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Senate committee presses Meta over data access by developers in ‘high risk’ countries, per 2018 app audit
Facebook’s murky history of letting third party apps help themselves to user data which you may recall blew up into a major global privacy scandal back in 2018 (aka, Cambridge Analytica), gougin
EU’s top diplomat fires warning shot at Elon Musk over Twitter disinformation
A controversial move by Twitter-owner Elon Musk to end free access to its APIs by February 9 has attracted criticism from the European Union’s top diplomat who has warned it could threaten the a
Neko, Daniel Ek’s next play, is another spin on preventative healthcare
Make room for yet another preventative health play: Spotify founder Daniel Ek officially confirmed rumors of his new “health tech” startup, Neko, Friday by quietly kicking off a body scann
Replika, a ‘virtual friendship’ AI chatbot, hit with data ban in Italy over child safety
San Francisco-based AI chatbot maker, Replika — which operates a freemium ‘virtual friendship’ service based on customizable digital avatars whose “personalized” response
Political ads face tougher targeting restrictions in EU if MEPs get their way
Europe has moved a step closer to having dedicated rules on online political ad targeting and transparency after the European Parliament fixed its negotiating position — paving the way for talks
European Parliament agrees a way forward on platform workers’ rights
A European Union legislative proposal targeting the gig economy’s tendency to ride rough-shod over workers’ rights has inched a step closer today as the parliament agreed its negotiating p
EU lawmakers launch tips hotline to catch Big Tech’s ‘shady’ lobbying
‘Astroturfing’ and other non-transparent lobbying tactics used to target digital policymakers in the European Union in recent years — including during a blitz of spending aimed at in
Amazon’s sales terms and delivery ‘dark patterns’ face probe in Poland
If you’ve ever made an Amazon order with a particular seller because the estimated delivery for the item appears to match when you need it, only to be frustrated when a different (later) deliver
Teal unwraps $8.8M to build out a telehealth platform for women — starting with cervical cancer screening
Female-focused telehealth startup, Teal Health, is popping up today to announce an $8.8 million seed round with a roster of heavy hitting investors on board — including (Serena Williams’)
Big changes coming for GDPR enforcement on Big Tech in Europe?
Big Tech take note: In what looks like a meaningful — and long overdue — reforming step, the European Commission has committed to dial up its monitoring of how data protection authorities
Fairphone nabs $53M in growth capital for ‘sustainable’ consumer electronics
Dutch social enterprise Fairphone, which makes modular and — the claim is — more sustainable and ethical consumer electronics, has nabbed a chunk of funding to continue scaling a circular-
Put a (smart) ring on it: Movano on why its health wearable will put women first
Movano Health turned heads at CES with an ouroboros-esque smart ring designed for women. In the crowded field of fitness wearables, where the mainstream heavy hitter of the Apple Watch heads up a very
Upp wants to add more broccoli to the plant-protein mix using big automation
What is automation good for? Harvesting more broccoli than human laborers can, according to Upp, a Shropshire, U.K.-based agtech startup that’s using computer vision AI plus farm-sized proprieta
Elon Musk’s Twitter hit with Holocaust denial hate speech lawsuit in Germany
Twitter owner and self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” Elon Musk is facing a legal challenge in Germany over how the platform handles antisemitic hate speech. The lawsuit, which was fi
Spain’s delivery platform Glovo fined again for breaching labor laws
Another penalty for Spain’s homegrown on-demand delivery app and dark store operator, Glovo — which has been fined close to €57 million (~$62 million) for breaching local labor laws by f
Germany is looking into PayPal’s terms for merchants
Veteran tech giant PayPal is facing an antitrust investigation in Germany — where the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has announced it’s looking into its rules on surcharges. The regulator is
EU watchdogs agree on how to handle certain cookie consent dark patterns
Cookie consent banners that use blatant design tricks to try to manipulate web users into agreeing to hand over their data for behavioral advertising, instead of giving people a free and fair choice t
WhatsApp slapped for processing data without a lawful basis under EU’s GDPR
Another bill has come in for Meta for failing to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — but this one’s a tiddler! Meta-owned messaging platform
Meta dodged a €4BN privacy fine over unlawful ads, argues GDPR complainant
A €390 million privacy fine for Meta announced earlier this month in the European Union — for running behavioral ads on Facebook and Instagram in the region without a valid legal basis —
Curated Loop is ranging indie designer picks for an edgier take on fashion rentals
Here’s a fashion rental startup with a twist: London, U.K.-based Curated Loop — which soft-launched a high-end fashion rental marketplace last week after bootstrapping to launch an MVP